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How Will You Be Remembered? Where does the time go?
It seems like only yesterday that I was pulling my kids along in a wagon. It
won’t be long before they are helping me get around. When you are young, all you
think about is getting older so you can “do stuff”. When you get to “that
age,” you are a happy camper. But as the years go by faster and faster, you
soon begin to realize what a foolhardy wish it was that you made when you
were young. If you live to be eighty years
old, people will look at you and say things like “He has had such a full
life.” Well, I am not eighty, but I
can tell you that if you DO live to be that old, it will seem like a blink of
your eye to you. I am 47. It seems like only yesterday that my best friend
and I were riding around in the middle of the road at midnight on our bikes in
our underwear. I learned a while back
one of my best childhood friends had died at 48. I wonder if he ever thought
of the things that we did as kids. We used to fight like banshees
in the bathtub at his house. One time his mom came in and threatened to beat
the crap out of us. We were all tangled up with each other around the tub and
sink trying to poke each other’s eyes out.
It sounds rough, but we always had a great time. I loved Paul like a brother.
Now he is gone. Soon, we will all be gone and people will start to forget
that we ever existed. That is the way life goes. The cycle never stops. So, if you ever hear an old guy reminiscing about the old days, humor him. You will be in his shoes one day and you too will wonder where the time went. Live a good life, help others
when you can, make sure your family knows that you care, and make people
laugh when you can. I have always tried to help
people with whatever problems they may have whenever it is possible. I have
been on the phone after midnight helping people with computer problems. They
would always apologize, but I would tell them not to worry about it and we
would try to get it figured out. I can’t do as much now as I used to, but I
do what I can. One day, I met two very nice
older ladies at a restaurant who seemed really happy. When I inquired what
the occasion was, one of them announced that it was the others birthday and
they were going to celebrate. I didn’t know how much celebrating they could
afford to do, so I told the birthday “girl” happy birthday and bought lunch
for both of them. I didn’t do it for their gratitude. In fact, I really could
not afford this act of generosity. But something inside of me compelled me to
act. I helped them celebrate because they had lived a long time as friends
and were still laughing together. I did it because I wanted to help them
celebrate. I did it because I was there. Old people deserve our respect.
One day, if we are lucky, we will be the old people the kids are talking
about. Hopefully, someone will show us a kindness as I showed these nice
ladies. When my kids were very young, I
did the stupidest things at times just so they would laugh. Now that they are
older, guess what? I am STILL doing stupid things just to make them laugh. I played with them at every
opportunity as they were growing up, and almost lost my job at one point
because I was determined to be at their ballgames each week. They always came
first. They always will. We were not as well off when we
were younger as we are now, but we made sure the kids got everything they
needed and most of what they wanted. Hopefully, my kids will be as generous
with their kids as I was with them. Not just with material possessions, but
with their time and their love. Showing young ones what they
mean to you is a lifelong project. It is a well known fact that time goes
faster when you grow old. This is not a myth. Just wait till you get older
and you will see for yourself. When you are young, it takes
ages for a holiday to come back around. When you get old, these holidays only
remind you that your time is running out and you will soon be punching the
clock of life for the last time. Be kind to others, as you would
like them to be kind to you. Life is much too short to hold grudges for
things that are not that important in the great scheme of things. Sometimes
it is too short to make up for the wrongs you have committed. But that
doesn’t mean you have to just give up. Everyone makes mistakes. The secret is
to learn from these mistakes and grow When you are gone, the memory
of your existence will slowly fade away through time. When everyone has
forgotten about you, then you will truly be gone. Make sure that you leave a
legacy of caring, trust, and love so that you will be remembered for the good
things you did in life and not for the mistakes you made. You will be
remembered much longer and you may still bring a smile to someone’s face as
an old story about something you did is told yet again for the umpteenth
time. As long as your memory is alive, you will never be gone I hope that I am remembered as
someone who really loved his kids, was kind to older people, and assisted
people whenever possible. You know, just a good old country boy who did what
he could. How will you be remembered? |
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